Woody Pitkat Double Dips at Stafford
Stafford Springs, CT — Stafford Motor Speedway returned to Friday night racing action with the SK Modified® division taking center stage for the 34th Coors Light SK Modified® 100. Woody Pitkat was the story of the night, first winning the 30-lap Late Model feature, and then taking tires with only 22 laps remaining in the 34th Annual Coors Light SK Modified® 100 to storm through the field and take a second victory of the evening. Alan Provost scored a first career victory in the 20-lap SK Light Modified feature, Sean Foster took down the 20-lap Limited Late Model feature, and Matt Chiarizio celebrated his birthday in grand style by scoring his first career win in the 15-lap DARE Stock feature.
The 34th Coors Light SK Modified® 100-lap feature saw Woody Pitkat outduel Stafford’s all-time winningest driver, Ted Christopher, to win the race. Willie Hardie took the lead from the pole, and he led the first 34 laps before contact with Keith Rocco sent him spinning from the lead. Rocco was black flagged for rough riding, which handed the lead of the race to Ted Christopher. Woody Pitkat took the lead from Christopher on the restart, and Pitkat held the lead until lap-52, when Christopher moved back out front. Pitkat slowly began to lose positions as Christopher began to build a large lead over Eric Berndt, who was now running second. A caution with 79 laps complete erased Christopher’s large lead and brought Pitkat to pit road for fresh tires. Pitkat then worked his way back through traffic and avoided several wrecks to find himself in third place behind Christopher for a lap-95 restart. Pitkat moved past Christopher on the restart and then drove away to score the win. Christopher finished second, with Frank Ruocco, Kerry Malone, and Curt Brainard rounding out the top-5.
The 30-lap Late Model feature saw Woody Pitkat drive to his first win of the season in a dominating drive. Ed Ricard led the first three laps before Pitkat took over the top spot on lap-4. Once Pitkat was out front, he slowly began to pull away from the field. Several cautions slowed the field and erased Pitkat’s lead, but Pitkat would again open up the lead once the race would go back to green flag conditions. Pitkat cruised to victory ahead of Jim Mavlouganes, Tom Fearn, Corey Hutchings, and Dillon Moltz, a 16 year-old driver who scored a top-5 finish in only his third start at Stafford.
The 20-lap SK Light feature saw Alan Provost drive to his first career victory. The race started out with a melee in turn 3 that involved at least 12 cars, including the top-2 cars in the points standings, Chris Matthews and Glen Reen. Josh Sylvester moved to the early lead, and he held the lead until lap-16 when Provost made his move to take over the lead. Sylvester made several bids to get back by Provost in the closing laps, but Provost was too strong to be overtaken as he scored his first career win. Sylvester finished second, with Aaron Goff, Mark Bakaj, and Raymond Grassetti rounding out the top-5.
The 20-lap Limited Late Model feature came down to a green white checkered restart with two division heavyweights battling for the win. Sean Foster took the lead early in the race and he held the lead until the caution flew with 19-laps complete, setting up a green white checkered restart. Andrew Durand, the division’s winningest driver this season, was alongside Foster for the restart. The first attempt at the restart saw a melee break out on the backstretch with Jeff Hubbell and Rick Lanagan clapping the wall and Paul Conte climbing over another car. On the restart, Foster took the lead, with Charlie Newman getting past Durand for second. Newman gave chase to Foster on the final lap, but came up short at the checkered flag as Foster scored his second win of the 2007 season. Rounding out the top-5 behind Foster and Newman was Durand, Michael Nadeau, and Hubbell.
The 15-lap DARE Stock feature saw Matt Chiarizio wire the field, leading from green to checkered to score his first career victory. Chiarizio had Jim Brice and Kyle Nosal on his bumper for much of the race, and with two laps to go, the leaders encountered lapped traffic, which gave Brice and Nosal an opportunity to take the lead. But Chiarizio deftly navigated his way through the traffic and came home a winner. Nosal spun coming to the checkered flag, which allowed Dan Flannery to take second. Brice finished third, with Vince Gambacorta and Todd LaPorta rounding out the top-5.
For more information contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at (860) 684-2783, or visit us on the web at www.staffordspeedway.com.